This idea is been boiling for a while (and inspired by the cool action team) But know I’m looking if more people are enthusiastic about it....To organise a Forest Vegi BanquetIf you are up for helping, cooking, finding the right space, cleaning dishes and so more please let me know on this virtual place

Shannon wrote:Sounds great. Some of the Coal Action crew might be up for helping... Lemme know if you want some contacts.

Yes, please! We've been having quite a hard time getting in touch with someone from Old St Paul's so CAS are def the people to ask for that. Also, I'm sure they could teach us some stuff from their vegan banqueting experience.

I spoke to Old St Paul's about something else a couple of days ago, and the woman I spoke to said that she was going away for 10 days so it would just be the answerphone... but... I have a list of their available dates in early/mid November - 9th, 10th, 11th, 18th (too soon? and the group that I phoned for will probably take the 11th). Might be worth leaving a message with a vague idea of when we'd want it for when she gets back...?

I booked OSP for the last banquet and paid £100 plus £40 cleaning deposit (which was returned). Make sure you tell them what it's for and ask for the charity rate! OSP has most of what you'll need to cook, but I recommend getting some big pots out of storage, depending on what you're making. Definitely have a look at the kitchen in advance if you're planning on doing much of the cooking there.

I contacted the Old St Pauls church, and hope to get a date from them soonish--- late november, begin december.Also the Cool action team is been contacted, and hopefully they get soon back to me, abouth what they learnd and recommend to do.

"""""That's cool you want to organise a banquet! I'd potentially be up for helping out if you decide to run one. I'll put some advice in this email but I'd also be happy (and maybe others would too) to meet up and talk it through over a coffee or something which might get more info across.

-The bar is a way to make lots of money. Beer sold well, wine didn't. We prob have spreadsheets that show how much people drank of what thing to help you in purchasing. A raffle is also a good money spinner, especially if you can ask people to donate prizes.

-With food, keep it cheap, and things that are easy to make in big quantities: big tray bakes, soups etc. We tried to do most of the cooking the day before and do the final prep on the day. Any food you can forage or get for free cuts costs- apples, wild garlic etc.

-We used old st paul's church. Their staff are helpful and they turned a blind eye to us running a bar and you can get a charity rate and hire the hall for about £100 i think. They have seating capacity for upto about 110, and have plates and knives and forks for that number too, but you need to bring your own table cloths and decorations, candles, bunting etc.

- Its good to have music during and between courses because there'll prob be lots of waiting whilst some people have finished eating and other's havent had their course yet. We tried to organise a band afterwards but this didn't work so well. People didn't really buy any more drinks or anything and it meant clean up happened REALLY late.

-You'll need transport to get food there from people's houses if you decide to cook the day before (i recommend this) and to take things home afterwards: unbought alcohol, table decorations etc.

-A small group of folk can organise and cook most stuff, but its good to have a big team of people on the day: on the door, setting up the space, doing the raffle. Making sure people are in clearly defined roles is really useful. Having guests take it in turns to serve folk at their own table worked well, so the organisers didn't have to stop cooking to serve.

-One thing we had big problems with last time was working out how many tickets we still had available. It would be good for one person to take on the role of tickets coordinator so they have a good overview. We let folks reserve tickets in advance by email, and then we collected the money on the door. However, people were reserving tickets through friends who were organising the event right until the very last minute which made it really hard to know how many tickets we could sell on the door. We also made the mistake of not telling people who had reserved what time they had to arrive by. So, I would suggest that you make a cut off point after which no more tickets can be reserved. For example, tell people they cannot reserve on the day but they have to arrive early instead and buy their ticket on the door. Also, I would suggest telling people who have reserved tickets but not paid for them that they have to arriveby a particular time, eg:7pm if they want their ticket to be held for them.

Ok, so that's loads of info that may or may not be useful. If you have any other questions or would like to meet up with some of us and chat about it more over a coffee then let me know. Also if you need any help in the organising I think i'd be up for helping, just give me a shout.Cheers,

Spoke with Jean from OSP re hiring the hall for scavenger hunt/vegan banquet funtimes. I said from 10am - midnight, and that we were a charity - she's getting back to me with a price today. Will let you know as soon as I do.

Sorry, gonna have to miss the meeting tonight. My vote is for lentil curry, delicious, cheap and easy to make in bulk. Plus curry always tastes best when it's leftovers so making it in advance is a bonus. Oh and chana masala too.

Would anyone be up for a road trip to Coldstream to get some apples? Would take an hour and a quarter each way and the nerdy part of me just worked out you'd need to pick around 12 kilos of apples to make it worth the fuel cost compared to supermarket prices.http://www.gumtree.com/p/for-sale/free- ... g/90754854

I've written to them to ask about the apples and when would be a good time to collect. Does anyone have a cool space we could shove them in though? Suspect they might not last until feast time otherwise. Apparently packing them in newspaper in a shed is the best option. Maybe the store house where all the Forest bits and pieces currently are?

Just finished work and my dancing shoes are no where to be found. Don't think I'll even make it to the pub without a coffee. There's no rush to get down there. Just text me back when you feel ready. The person with the apples sent me their number so we could call ahead.

Now you mention it midnight is probably a bad time for apple picking! Let's call it 11am tomorrow. Can anyone tell us how many apples we might need? I guess we can always make cider with the leftovers.

They're in the lock up but if they're gonna last till the banquet we should put them in boxes seperate by newspaper so none of them are touching. Does anyone have a big mountain of newspaper they've been meaning to take to the recycling?

There's usually a huge pile of collapsed cardboard boxes on the corner of Roseneath Place and Warrender Park Road, must be from a local business. I've taken stuff from there a few times to use as firelighters.

I'm writing up some tentative recipes and I'm realizing with horror that we'll basically be using the same 4 ingredients in everything - one might argue that this is the way of the Scots (mashed... stuff with some more mashed... stuff and brownish sauce? Potatoes for breakfast?) but it worries me a bit. You know something is deeply wrong when the idea of adding cabbage suddenly dawns on you like ray of hope.

Fry the onion, carrots and potato in a large pan for 3 minutes, add the chopped garlic and rosemary and let it fry for another 2 minutes. Add most of the stock to the pan. Bring to a boil and simmer until vegetables are soft, remove from the fire and blend the hell out of it. Adjust with salt, pepper and remaining stock to taste. [Garnish with something? Parsley? Cream? Unicorn tears?]

Haggis (Main)

vegetable oil 120 gr porridge oats100 gr lentils50 gr pearl barley1 can kidney beans, mashed1 large onion, chopped3 carrots, grated1 stalk of celery, chopped2 cloves of garlic, chopped2 tsp mixed ground spices (could be nutmeg, paprika, sage, thyme, cloves)2 tbsp soy sauce2 tsp black peppersaltHeat up the oil in a large pan, add the chopped onion and cook until golden. Add the carrots, celery and garlic and cook until soft. Add the spice mix, pepper, lentils and barley, stir and add some of the stock. Keep cooking and stirring until the barley is ready, adding stock when needed. When it's almost ready, heat the oven to 180 and toast the oats on a cookie sheet for 10/15 minutes. Add the oats, kidney beans, soy sauce and salt to taste to the vegetable&lentil mix and pour in an oven dish. Cover with foil and bake at 180° for 40 minutes or until brown.[Would be nicer with added walnuts and mushrooms, but they're expensive].

Stovies (Side)

6 small potatoes, dicedhalf a neep, diced2 onions, slicedvegetable oil1 cup of vegetable stocksalt and pepperPlease can we add some mustard? *weeps*

Fry the onion in a large pan, add the vegetables, pepper and salt and leave to cook. Forever. Or until the fire alarm goes off. That might also mean that you forgot to STIR.

Stew the apples with sugar, raisins and spices in a pan with a lid until the apples are cooked (add a bit of water if it's sticking).Mix the crumble ingredients and rub until crumbly, than toast in a pan over low heat until golden. Served the apples in single portions topped with the crumbly mix.

Tea: How do we serve it? Do we put sugar bowls on the tables? How about the milk? I'd skip it altogether but we're not in Europe, are we? The problem is: Since we're selling it as a vegan banquet, it would make sense to have soya milk as default. However, most of the people there probably won't be vegan and some might simply not like it or be intolerant. Putting jugs on the tables sounds like a waste-fest. Maybe we should just give the options (non-dairy and dairy) when people come and get their tea.

I used oil in the recipes instead of margarine because it's cheaper, but since we have to get margarine for the pudding anyway, maybe we might as well get it for everything else? I'm sure that the haggis and stovies would benefit from it.

Did somebody ask Pomme about the orange peel to be served with tea?

Did somebody ask Stevie about the feasibility of Paterson™-made bread for the soup?

Any help from the Scots (KMs, ex-KMs, non KMs) on how to improve the above recipes is very appreciated

well done gaia thank you.i shall make the haggis and bring on thursday...think that was what i said. it looks lovely and dinnae worry about same veg, it is all in the seasoning. i thought that some kind of jasmine tea to finish would be good as no soya or sugar needed. therefore cheaper! and easieri have rosemary plants i could bring some for the dishes. we are having cabbage though right? or should we have a more adventurous veg side dish?

looking forward to thursdaysimone

I saw two shooting stars last night, i wished on them, but they were only satellites.is it wrong to wish on space hardware?(Billy Bragg)

hi gaiajust checking recipe and it talks about adding stock, which is not listed in the ingredients. could you check it for me? i am worried about ending up making stew!! i shall do a pre-practice tonight!thanks

I saw two shooting stars last night, i wished on them, but they were only satellites.is it wrong to wish on space hardware?(Billy Bragg)

Oops, pardon me Simone! I'd say about half a litre, maybe a bit more. When I'm not sure, I usually just make more stock then I think I need and add it bit by bit, you can always reuse it for a soup the following day